Donald Trump Incoherent In Phoenix; New Criticism From State Department Science Envoy, United Nations Panel, And Others

August 23, 2017 — Ron Chusid

Donald Trump’s encouragement of white supremacists and his speech last night have increased the isolation of Donald Trump. Following his campaign rally in Phoenix, Trump has received further criticism and condemnation from the media, the science envoy for the State Department, a former director of National Intelligence, a United Nations panel, and even some of his supporters. In the past Trump was able to but on a good show and excite potential voters, even if his arguments made no sense. Last night’s speech in Phoenix was too much for even some of his supporters. The Washington Post wrote, As Trump ranted and rambled in Phoenix, his crowd slowly thinned:

Over the next 72 minutes, the president launched into one angry rant after another, repeatedly attacking the media and providing a lengthy defense of his response to the violent clashes in Charlottesville, between white supremacists and neo-Nazis and the counterprotesters who challenged them. He threatened to shut down the government if he doesn’t receive funding for a wall along the southern border, announced that he will “probably” get rid of the North American Free Trade Agreement, attacked the state’s two Republican senators, repeatedly referred to protesters as “thugs” and coyly hinted that he will pardon Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County who was convicted in July of criminal contempt in Arizona for ignoring a judge’s order to stop detaining people because he merely suspected them of being undocumented immigrants.

…as the night dragged on, many in the crowd lost interest in what the president was saying.

Hundreds left early, while others plopped down on the ground, scrolled through their social media feeds or started up a conversation with their neighbors. After waiting for hours in 107-degree heat to get into the rally hall — where their water bottles were confiscated by security — people were tired and dehydrated and the president just wasn’t keeping their attention. Although Trump has long been the master of reading the mood of a room and quickly adjusting his message to satisfy as many of his fans as possible, his rage seemed to cloud his senses…

Along the way, Trump defended his use of Twitter and bragged that he went to “better schools” and lives “in a bigger, more beautiful apartment” than those who are considered elites. He said the “failing New York Times … is like so bad,” mocked CNN for its ratings and accused The Washington Post of being “a lobbying tool for Amazon” because the newspaper is owned by Jeffrey P. Bezos, who founded Amazon. The crowd repeatedly booed the reporters in their midst and chanted: “CNN sucks! CNN sucks!”

He had far too many incoherent and often incorrect statements to describe them all. Vanity Fair wrote, TRUMP GOES OFF-SCRIPT IN HOUR-LONG PUBLIC MELTDOWN: Trump explained that the biggest victim in the Charlottesville violence last weekend was, in fact, himself. Politifact and the other fact checkers found multiple false statements. Chris Cillizza actually listed Donald Trump’s 57 most outrageous quotes from his Arizona speech.

The leaders of Britain and Germany spoke about the need to condemn such violence.

Now the United Nations has weighed in, too.

Without mentioning Mr. Trump by name, a body of United Nations experts on Wednesday denounced “the failure at the highest political level of the United States of America to unequivocally reject and condemn” racist violence, saying it was “deeply concerned by the example this failure could set for the rest of the world.”

Mr. Trump’s wavering responses to the violence — he has blamed “many sides,” but also singled out the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi groups and white supremacists for condemnation — has roiled his administration, but also unsettled rights advocates around the world.

“We were shocked and horrified by what happened,” the committee’s chairwoman, Anastasia Crickley, said in an interview, expressing disgust at the televised images of white supremacists’ torchlit parade through Charlottesville. “I was horrified as well by the way leaders of that movement were able to state afterwards that they felt secure in their support.”

Daniel Kammen announced his resignation in a letter addressed to Trump — in which the first letter of every paragraph spelled out “Impeach.”

“My decision to resign is in response to your attacks on core values of the United States,” Kammen said in the letter.

“Your failure to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis has domestic and international ramifications.”

Kammen said it is particularly troubling to him that Trump’s response to Charlottesville is “consistent with a broader pattern of behavior that enables sexism and racism, and disregards the welfare of Americans, the global community and the planet.”